


Nocturne

by Windy0Winaru



Category: Bleach
Genre: Birthday Fluff, F/M, Implied Relationships, Late at Night, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 18:10:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5675605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Windy0Winaru/pseuds/Windy0Winaru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Their eyes seemed to contain the same sad expressions although they kept to the opposite ends of the room and exchanged not one word the entire night. She wanted to understand what was going on, but...what could she say? They were strangers. What kind of deep understanding did they have about each other to talk about love and heartbreak? Even in the deep night, with only the moon and stars to watch over them, she couldn’t think of how to break the silence.</p><p>~Nothing happens on Renji's birthday, until it does. Celebrations get off to a rough start. Renji has to be looked after by a stranger~</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nocturne

**Author's Note:**

> "Bygone Days" by Joe Hisaishi. I was listening to a lot of Joe Hisaishi's music while writing this, and it just seemed to fit ^_^

Under the flickering streetlight, Renji's cheeks glowed bright red. He kept lifting his hand every couple of minutes to scratch his flaring cheeks. His black polished shoes sparkled in the glow of the street-lamps, and his heels tapped to a nervous rhythm on the concrete pavement. He wiped a dense line of sweat from his forehead, and kept squeezing his tired shoulders as the wind brushed his cheeks.

The evening breeze was like a cup of iced coffee melting in the summer heat. He had tied his hair back so it poked out the top of his head like layers of fine quills on a red porcupine. He wore a simple white shirt. He had accidentally left his deep blue blazer hanging on the back of a chair in his hurry to leave the restaurant. Flies zoomed from east to west and the cicadas buzzed in the bushes. The back of his shirt was soaked in sweat, and a sharp, tangy smell hung densely in the air.

The whole time, Yanagi Kurosawa sat beside him, staring mutely into the gathering darkness. Already cured of whatever was making Renji fidgety and nervous, she looked calm and at ease, humming a light tune to herself as a sickly tree stretched its spindly branches out deeper into the night. She had already kicked off her shoes. Her arms wrapped around her legs, she leaned against the thin tree trunk. Her eyes looked up into the stars that were slowly appearing in the deep blue sky. She thought about her friends back home. Where were they now, and what were they up to?

She and Renji had not said a word to each other all evening. A full hour and a half had passed and they still hadn’t gotten around to talking about dinner: how they filled their stomachs with filet mignon, d'oevres, and the delicious 1986 red wine from a little-known vineyard in a small town in Provence. They hadn’t gotten around to talking about the music playing in the restaurant, or dancing in the large brightly lit hall to a slow melody. They also didn’t talk about Rukia or her peculiar dance moves… Just a few hours ago Yanagi had watched him look at Rukia with a rare tenderness in his eyes and a dangerous redness in his cheeks.

She didn’t believe him when she heard him blame it on the wine. By all appearances he and Rukia didn’t look very close. If they had known each other before, they probably hadn’t talked in a very long time. Yet their eyes seemed to contain the same sad expressions although they kept to the opposite ends of the room, and hadn’t exchanged one word the entire night. She wanted to understand what had happened between them, but...what could she say? They were strangers. What kind of deep understanding did they have about each other to talk about love and heartbreak? Even in the deep night, with only the moon and stars to watch over them, she couldn’t think of how to break the silence.

Humming a tune, her voice drifted gently through the air. She began singing to herself. She skimmed over lyrics she did not know and sang the memorized chorus twelve times and then more.

The hours ticked by. The sky turned darker. The dense fog over his brain was slowly dissipating. By now he could count to ten with his fingers and recall bits and pieces of how he’d ended up here tonight. He recalled Rukia. The image of her dancing to the soft melody drifted into his mind. He took a deep breath and slowly slid back into the scene. He felt his heart swell when he watched her dance. He heard it break into tiny pieces again when the music stopped and she returned to the opposite end of the room.

Many years had passed since he left Inuzuri, still every time he closed his eyes he saw Rukia laughing by the crackling fire, scolding him for falling asleep in the old sycamore tree. Rukia smelling the flowers that floated by in the river…

A row of dark green hedges rustled. Yanagi stopped humming and listened carefully. By habit Renji's hand reached to his pocket but Yanagi stopped him, holding her own soul candy dispenser to her lips. "Whatever it is, I’ve got it!" She decided to observe for a bit longer before swallowing the Gikongan. She did not take her eyes off hedges and kept her feet firm on the ground. She breathed deeply, and tightened her hands, as she waited for 'whatever it is' to emerge from the leaves...

*

Renji cracked his neck, and whistled in relief. "A cat," he grinned. His tone was pleasant enough but there was something mocking in his smile.

Yanagi grumbled and slumped down to the ground. "Are you feeling better?" she asked.Renji groaned and massaged his temples. "Well I guess it's too soon to tell."

She sighed and popped the Soul Candy dispenser back where into her clutch. “Maybe we should go out for coffee. I heard it helps with hangovers. Helps to clear the mind, or something like that."

Renji tried taking deep breaths but the hot and humid air could not reach his lungs. A mist hung over his eyes like a thick cloth covering his nostrils, making his head throb. He felt the enormous weight of a ton of bricks piled up on his shoulders and his whole body ached as if he had walked a hundred miles.

“This won’t do…” she muttered shaking her head. The scar attained from her childhood remained invisible in the shadows. The light found the metal clasp at the back of her long black dress, where it gleamed like a wayward star in the night. " Wonder what's keeping them...” She turned around and saw him fiddling with the buttons on his cell phone. “Do you know if they’re coming?”

“Soon…” His voice had turned weak and incredibly soft. With difficulty he pointed to the clock tower visible above the tall trees, his eyes still fixed on the bright screen of his phone. But before he could say any more, he threw down his head and a gross belching noise echoed out into the street. The cat they saw wandering out of the bushes earlier yowled and scampered away deep into the night. Yanagi hurried to him and helped him up when he fell. She took out a handkerchief from her pearl white clutch and mopped up the sweat oozing onto his face. All colour had left his cheeks and his face was a startling chalk white.

“What’s wrong with you today…” she said as she ran her hand up and down his back to help him breathe more deeply. “Whenever I saw you in Soul Society, you were always so cheery and dauntless. You’re the last person I thought would try to drink your pain away.”

Renji coughed very loudly, and leaned back against the tree. He wore an ill and pained expression. “To think you’re just like the rest of us, wearing a mask to keep others from knowing what we’re really thinking…” Yanagi shook her head, but continued to dab her handkerchief on his forehead. His eyes were closed, and eventually Yanagi’s temper softened.

She helped him lie down, lifting his legs from the ground so he could lie comfortably. His breathing was still heavy and his eyelids twitched as though he was having a bad dream. She stroked his eyebrows and smoothed his hair. "It's not the ideal place, but I'd say it's good enough." She sat down beside him and patted his knees. “Don’t worry if the others come. I can get them to wait..."

She began humming and once again a gentle melody floated above the trees, up towards the clouds.

*

The clock tower struck nine o’clock and a cool wind blew a rift in the lingering heat. The green bushes rustled and the trees waved their branches in polite greeting. Beneath the bare, spindly tree, Renji’s eyes opened. He lifted his head slightly, and looked around him. The first thing he saw was the moonlight shining down through the lanky branches of the tree.

Hearing movement close by, he sat up slowly. The white handkerchief over his forehead fluttered into his lap. He held it up to the light and briefly noted the tiny butterfly sewn into the corner.

“Thank god you’re awake!” He swiveled his eyes to where the voice came from. His mouth frozen in a half-smile as Yanagi rushed to his side. “How’re you feeling? He didn’t reply, but pressed his fingers on his temples, and lifted his eyes to the clock.

“You were here the whole time?”

“Yeah! You gave me a real scare! How much did you drink tonight? You fell asleep for almost three hours! I didn’t want to leave you here alone so I just…” Yanagi paused, distracted by a noise out in the distance. “Strange…she should be here already…” Renji followed the trajectory of her gaze but saw nothing but a row of streetlights shining down on the line of dark green hedges. The air had cooled down a few degrees and the breeze was blowing comfortably across his face.

Suddenly something caught his attention. He blinked. Danger filled the air. Why hadn’t he sensed it before? He had thought his mind was asleep, his eyes not fully adjusted to the light. He stared at her long black sleeves, white socks and straw sandals. Then, expecting the worst, he asked: “When was it here?”

“Half an hour ago,” she shrugged.

“What was it like?” Yanagi raised her eyebrows, but Renji decided against dwelling on the strangeness of her expression. He went on: “Did you kill it?” She thought for a moment.

“Hold on! What do you—“

In an instant, a voice tore the calm of the night into pieces. The leaves on the hedges rustled, and Yanagi’s fringe flew back over her head as a giant wind blasted in her face. They heard the sound of footsteps running towards them.“You did it!” the shrill voice began, “Yana-tan, you’re a saviour, wan! Oh, how can I ever thank you! You saved Ren-chan from the brink of death, wan!” The figure skidded to a halt in front of them. Shimmering black silk trailed like star dust behind the figure as it sped down the street, and its scream was heard from down the next block.

But Yanagi stretched out her arms and would not let her pass. 

“Let me see him first, wan!” The voice demanded. The figure's eyes quickly filled with tears. Yanagi heart softened and dropped her arm.

“Fine…but do not kill him!” She warned. She shot this strange girl another stern look and reluctantly moved away. As this figure walked up to him, Renji gasped when he realized how much she resembled Yanagi. The girl stopped in from of him and flung her arms over his neck. She sobbed into his collar, and Renji’s face froze in an expression of utter confusion. His mouth hung open and his eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost. Yanagi watched this helplessly, silently shaking her head in dismay.

In the flickering light her eyes darted to a plastic bag that had been thrown hastily on the floor. The contents jiggled and rattled as she picked up the bag, and after taking a quick peep inside, she tapped the girl on the shoulder. “What is this?” she asked, showing her the can of coffee.

The girl who looked like Yanagi sniveled, “It's what you told me to get at the store…wan...The guy who worked there said it’s good for colds and hangovers and all sort of stuff, wan…so I bought a whole bunch of them, wan…warm and cold, wan…black and café au lait…sugar, low sugar, and no sugar…wan, wan…I just wanted to help Ren-chan get better…” and she let her head fall back on his shoulder and the sound of her sobbing filled the night.

“Is she alright?” he asked Yanagi weakly.

Yanagi crossed her arms over her chest, and answered crossly. “Well, that really depends on you!” As Renji puzzled over this answer, Yanagi spun the can around in her hand.

Mesmerized by the object like it was not from this world, she ran her fingers over the silver ring and tapped the metal lid. When her senses finally came back to her, she lifted her head and shouted toward the boy and the girl locked in an embrace. “That’s enough, Lucie…Hey! You can let him go now!” The girl turned around slowly and wiped away her tears. Renji looked relieved that he was released so easily, though none too soon.

Lucie strolled up to her, and Yanagi patted the top of her head. “You were a great today, Lucie. Thanks for all your help. I’ll prepare the peanut butter and cantaloupe for you when we get back to the eleventh, okay? Don’t worry about Renji,” she added, still seeing the worried look in her eyes. “He’ll be alright.” Then turning to Renji, she looked at him sternly.

“Uh…Hmm…” He nodded, looking at the ground.

“See how you’ve made her cry. You won’t drink yourself to death and make Lucie-chan worry again?”

Seeing where she was going with this, Renji raised his head and while gazing deep into Lucie’s blue eyes, he firmly shook his head. More reassured now, Lucie looked at Yanagi. “You’ll take care of him for me, wan, wan…?”

“I will, wan…I mean, I will.” She leaned in closer and whispered, “Now please get back. The others are coming soon. I need my Gigai…” Lucie grabbed Yanagi’s hand and touched her palm to her cheek. She closed her eyes. Within seconds the small round pill rolled out of her mouth and the Gigai, still wearing that slender black dress, dropped lifelessly on the ground.

The Gikongan now safely stowed away inside her clutch, she finally slipped back in her black high heels. She walked up to Renji and pressed a can of hot coffee into his hands. “There’s a lot where that came from…Lucie went a long way to get them for you so you’d better drink up and get well as soon as you can.”

“That's your Gikon?”

“Yeah…You were just asleep for so long. I didn’t want to leave you by yourself. I mean, what would you do if a Hollow came?"

Silence lingered on for a while. Yanagi’s face was thoughtful, as though there was still so much she wanted to say. On the other hand, Renji didn’t know what else to say at all, so he stayed quiet, waiting for her to be the first to speak. Eventually the silence seeped deeper into the night and became permanent under the moon.

They cracked open their cans of coffee and raised them to their lips. By chance Renji noticed the stain on her dress. Maybe the wine was still getting to his head, but when he thought about the trouble the two girls had gone through tonight, his eyes started to water, and had to blink several times to dry them. “I’ll pay for the drycleaning,” he offered out of the blue.

“Oh, don’t worry. I get a discount through the Shinigami Women’s Association.”

Renji thought over this new discovery for a bit, and felt slightly disappointed for him and his friends.

“Don’t you get discounts by being a member of the Men’s Association?”

“No…”

“Well, you should bring up the idea! To tell you the truth, it was suggested several times before but it wasn’t until Vice-Cap Yachiru ran out of money to do her own laundry that she started taking the idea seriously. Now we have discounts to the spa, the theatre, the bookshop…candy shop, toy shop, and even the Silver Dragonfly… Let me know if Iba-san takes you up on the offer…It’s always nice to save some money and have money to spare. After all, our salaries only goes down when the expenses go up," she chuckled. "Nanao-chan and Isane-chan did most of the negotiations with the vendors. If the guys are all okay with it, I can ask them to give you a hand…”

Renji’s ears pricked up at the mention of the Silver Dragonfly, which was his favourite place to buy sunglasses. “Sure…Whatever you want...” He trailed off, and dunked a large gulp of hot coffee down his throat to hide his overflowing excitement. He choked and coughed, covering his mouth.

Renji glanced expectantly at Yanagi, waiting for her to say more, but having lost her train of thought she just started pulling down the pearl earrings still dangling from her ears. The pair of clip-ons already burned two red marks on each of her ears, and she pressed two fingers on it, gently massaging away the pain and redness. "Do you have a handkerchief?" she asked suddenly. "These are actually Captain Unohana’s. I want to wrap them up before putting them in my purse.”

Renji stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I never thought Captain Unohana wore jewellery.”

“I didn’t know until a few days ago. I was with Isane when she came in and suggested me that earrings should go well with this evening dress and she just let me borrow them…“

“It is a pretty good match.”

She smiled wryly. “Isane was surprised too. She said she thought the Captain must have worn them years back when she was young. If so, they must mean a lot to her, for her to hold on to them for so many years."

He finally retrieved something from inside his pockets and held out his hand. He wrapped them up in his own handkerchief and gave her the delicate package to slip back inside her clutch. While she had sewn a small butterfly on the corner of hers, this handkerchief was plain and unmarked. She looked at it carefully the way she had examined the coffee can, then she put it away. “You look better,” she announced.

“Yeah, well, I feel much better too.” He got up to stretch his arms and legs. “Anyway, it doesn’t seem like the others are coming. Why don’t we go look for them? I should never have trusted them to be on time. They must be still at the restaurant. When I left they were still drinking like fish…”

“No, let’s stay here. I’m sure they’ll be here soon.” Renji didn’t object. A certain peace had settled over him as he breathed in the cool night air. The headache and the tightness in his chest were fading, and his heartbeat had slowed down to its regular rhythm.

As he gazed up at the sky though, the moon and the stars reminded him of a past he could not escape. The feeling of calm and contentment in his heart thinned, and he reclaimed the weight he used to carry around him. Suddenly he wasn’t feeling 'much better'. Though he wasn’t ill. Only his bones had returned to the colour it had been dyed to, and the stray dog in him once again longed to leap up to touch the stars. He forgot Yanagi, the evening, Lucie the Gikon…only the brightest star in the night commanded his full attention. His mind retrieved an image of Rukia swaying to the music in the dim light of the restaurant. As always, the light and the music seemed so close to him, Rukia was just out of his reach.

“Do you remember it? It was my favourite tune they played all evening. I think they said it’s called “Bygone Days”…”

Pulled back to the present, he almost jumped out of his seat. Yanagi hummed a couple more bars. She tried to look apathetic, secretly hoping she hadn’t annoyed him. He bit his lip, surprised, but not upset to hear her singing the same tune. “I liked it too," he grinned. "It’s not as sad as its name suggests.” Another can-full of coffee went down his throat. It made his heart beat so rapidly his thoughts no longer sounded like his own.

Stepping out of the shadows of his own past, he tried imagining what kind of life Yanagi led up to this point. What made her cry in the past? Then, what made her smile and her heart light with joy? He was most curious to know why she came to Soul Society and which district in Rukongai she came from...

*

The wind grew wild. A gray cloud swept over the moon. They heard another rustle in the bushes. Thinking it was the same cat from before, Renji tried to ignore it. But the noise only grew louder until all at once the surrounding hedges began rustling together. A terrible, crackling noise burst in their ears and the sound of laughter tore into pieces the peace and calm of the evening. Shadows closed in on them, forcing Renji to toss the round green pill into his mouth. He reached for his sheath, but Yanagi stepped up to block him. She lifted her head towards the streetlights and power lines, shielding her eyes with her hands. Seeing a faint red light glimmer in the distance, she raised her arm to the skies.

And she snapped her fingers.

A line of smoke whistled up to the sky, followed by a flash of light. A great red ball of fire burned brightly above their heads as the merry voices of forty Shinigami rang out into the night.

“What’s happening?”

“It’s for you!” Yanagi yelled above the fireworks and the singing. “Can you honestly not hear what they’re singing?”

Recovering from his initial surprise, Renji pricked up his ears to listen carefully to the words. His cheeks and his ears glowed bright crimson when he recognized the song.

“How did you know it was…?”

“How do you think we knew?” Her smile was too large for her face. “We had some help from your old friends!” She shaped her hands around her mouth like a bell, and shouted up to the treetops. “So, you guys have finally arrived huh?! Well, it’s about time! Why don’t you just come down already!”

Heeding her call, twenty figures in dark billowing robes jumped down from the electricity poles like a murder of pure black crows fluttering to the ground. Each one of them touched down nimbly on the concrete in their straw sandals. Yet the other twenty Shinigami were dressed in normal human clothes, black shoes, ties, dress shirts, etc.

*

Near the sickly tree, Yanagi met up with Renji again. He had just finished talking with Ikkaku and Yumichika , also from the eleventh. All evening Rukia lingered on the outskirts of the crowd. Sometimes Kiyone and Sentaro joined her and told her a joke or two to keep her laughing. In the end she was always standing alone. Soon Kiyone went to join her sister, and Sentaro was called away by his friend from the seventh.

Captain Ukitake approached her sometime later and delivered a small parcel into her hands. He slipped her an envelope, whispered softly so only she could hear: “We decided you should be the one to give it to him on our behalf. For now, just hold on to it for us, and I’ll let you know when it’s time…”

*

Standing not very far to her, two Shinigami were conversing quietly under their breaths. “Even if you say so, I really don’t see why we had to come all the way here…They could have just as easily had the celebration without the lot of us scrambling down to the human realm...And what if the humans see us? They’re bound to start asking questions…”

“They won’t,” his companion reassured. “Why do you think only half of us are back in Shinigami robes? It would’ve been more suspicious if the humans saw such a large group of regular people gathered in a dark alleyway. Sure we could have all changed out of our Gigai, but imagine the fuss they’d make if they saw paper cups and plates floating in the air on their own!”

“Okay, okay, I'll take your word for it. But why come here in the first place? We could have saved a whole lot of trouble by having this party in Soul Society...”

His friend seemed at a loss and closed his eyes to seriously contemplate the concern for a while. “Oh, the present!" He clapped his hands together. "Maybe the present was something they could only get here in the human world!”

But the other one only rolled his eyes in response. “Are you seriously implying that…”

Listening in on their conversation, Rukia nursed a faint suspicion that she was holding this very special present in her hands. She quickly remembered the silver envelope Captain Ukitake gave her. It wasn’t sealed. There was a brightly coloured greeting card tucked in the glittery envelope. She took out the card, opened it, and began reading the messages inside. Soon she dug out a pen from her pocket, and after locating a cozy, concealed spot in the bushes, she crouched down and started jotting down her own message.

*

When she finished, Rukia put the pen away, and stepped out from her hiding place. As Ikkaku and Yumichika left, Yanagi crept up behind Renji and tapped his shoulder. Renji spun around. He scratched his head, slightly abashed. His cheeks glowed red in the neon light. “It’s alright. It’s already more than I’d expected," he stuttered. Yanagi was obviously pleased to hear him say it. But she frowned suddenly, and turned away from him. “What’s wrong?” he looked concerned, and followed her through the hedges, stepping on twigs and fallen leaves, to the spot where Rukia stood just moments ago.

They saw the bundle on the dirt, placed neatly between the bushes. A hint of moonlight shone on the blue cloth that was wrapped delicately over the package. Renji leaned towards Yanagi, “What is it?”

Yanagi picked it up and pushed it into both his hands. Beneath the coarse fabric, the package was small and rectangular. “It’s from us. All of us. All the thirteen divisions. All of Soul Society! We put in a lot of thought in this gift. So even if you’re never gonna wear it, don’t just let it be one of those things you let gather dust in some dingy corner!”

He said he was deeply grateful, and he would wear it in front of everyone once he found out what it is. He was just about to unwrap his birthday present, when she decided to add: “The thing is, Rukia got called away at the last minute. She was supposed to give it to you tonight…” His hands stopped moving. The bottom of his eyes felt warm when he heard her mention Rukia’s name.

“Where is she now?” he asked.

Yanagi shook her head, “I’m not sure.” She only overheard Rukia talking into her phone, something about an urgent mission. “That’s all I know. Why, when, where…I'm sorry I didn’t catch anything else…” Renji’s eyes fixed on his present. “Then I won’t open it just yet.”

“But everyone chipped in to get it for you…They might misunderstand…”

“They wouldn't. They _must_ understand. Don’t worry, she’ll will be back soon. These missions never take very long anyway. I’ll tell them I want to wait for a time when everyone’s present to open it. I have something I wanted to tell her too when she comes back. It's okay. At least Kira, Hinamori, Ikkaku-san, and Yumichika-san would understand.” They were also Yanagi’s friends, and the people she spent most of her time with in Soul Society. Yanagi couldn’t help feeling she had been purposely left in the dark. Her eyes fell on the slice of moonlight passing through the leaves, and she forgot what she was going to say.

*

They emerged from the behind the trees. Renji, with the package still in his hands, Yanagi walked out after him. Shuuhei Hisagi fixed them a mean stare, as his friend whispered jokingly in his ear: “Shouldn’t they be more careful? That’s how rumours begin…”

The festivities continued until midnight. At eleven the streetlights dimmed. As the temperature continued to drop, several girls in evening gowns shivered and the guys standing close by offered their jackets to them. Seeing how Renji wasn’t wearing his blazer, Hisagi pushed through the crowd to offer his own to Yanagi. But just as he started in her direction he heard someone shout: “Oi, Abarai! Is this yours? You forgot your coat!” Murmuring a quick word of thanks, Renji grabbed a hold of the jacket and slid it over Yanagi’s shoulders. Hisagi froze in his tracks, sighed, and strolled back dispiritedly, wrapped up in disappointment as Yanagi pulled the collar closer around her neck and guessed that he must not have had the clothes for very long, as it did not have the smell that usually lingered around him wherever he went. She felt her body warm up immediately, and her cheeks burned bright pink.

Hisagi appeared beside her later in the evening, dragging his feet, and wearing a long frown that almost touched the ground. His hands were crossed angrily over his chest. “Did he open it?” he asked without glancing at her. She shook her head. “He wants to wait until Rukia gets back. Do you even know why this is?”

“I think Izuru might have said something…” Hisagi moved his hands to his hips. “But do they really look like childhood friends to you? He hasn’t spoken to her all evening, and she left in the middle of his party…He’d rather leave with you than do as Ando suggested and dance with her.”

“Ando was just joking around like he always does. Abarai did the right thing by not listening to him. Anyway…would you have danced with me if he told you to?”

Hisagi’s eyes widened and he backed away a little. The back of his sandals hit a large pebble and he almost fell.

“See? Even you wouldn’t want to be singled out to dance in front of such a big crowd!”

“Who said I wouldn’t…!” It was too dark to see the redness spreading across his face. His words too were muffled by a cry from the opposite side of the alley.

“Alrighty everyone!” from somewhere far up Hinamori cheered. “Let’s try once more from the top!”

Everyone quickly joined in at the chorus. Once again, the night filled with the music and lyrics of the “Happy Birthday” song.

This time Byakuya didn’t bother joining in. He was too busy trying to ignore Jushiro Ukitake who kept whispering trivialities in his ears.

“Poor Rukia-chan,” Ukitake chirped. “I do hope she had time to put something in that card. She was called away so soon…”

But Byakuya didn’t notice him at all. He kept looking straight ahead without opening his mouth. Although a good number of years had passed, he could not hear Rukia’s name or see her face without thinking about his beloved Hisana. Even now he felt the water rush to his eyes. The cool breeze dried up his tears, but it could not blow away the bitterness in his heart.

“I hope you, of ALL people, wrote something in that card. He is YOUR Vice-Captain.” Ukitake eyed him suspiciously. Byakuya continued to ignore him.

After all Ukitake needn’t have worried. Both Rukia and Byakuya had had more than enough time to leave their signatures and best-wishes inside the birthday card. Renji saw the two messages shortly after the party ended and everyone had made their way back to Seireitei.

He sat himself down in his new quarters in the 6th division barracks, with the gift and the birthday card placed down on the rectangular wooden desk at the center of the room.

That night he pulled open his wardrobe door and carefully tucked the gift between two spare sets of blankets.

Over the next couple of months, and no matter what anyone else said, he was adamant that he would only open the present after Rukia returned, and he never once removed the bundle from his wardrobe. Yet the card remained on his desk for a long time afterwards. Occasionally he would open it again and read through his friends’ messages.

Captain Kuchiki’s note was everything Renji had expected… Short, lordly, and devoid of any celebratory feeling. He laughed when he got to Yanagi’s message. Hisagi’s note was brief and to-the-point, Kira’s was sincere though a bit formal, and Hinamori had drawn cute animals—rabbits and dogs with large eyes and funny expressions—to accompany her short and sweet greeting.

But he forgot all about the others the instant his eyes fell upon Rukia’s handwriting. "Happy Birthday Renji", she wrote. "It’s been a very long time...and I hate that I have to leave early. But you know these things never take too long. I’ll be back soon. And when I get back, I hope we can start over again as friends, Renji… Happy Birthday! -Rukia".

His heart fluttered in his chest each time read over it.

Over the next few months Rukia’s words were seared into his brain. He read and reread the note whatever chance he got. As he waited for her to return, he kept thinking about the promise she had made. It was everything he had wished for for forty long years ago.

He couldn’t wait for Rukia to return.

*


End file.
